Black Drivers Targeted

April 29, 1998|Akilah Monifa - freelance writer and adjunct professor of law New College of California, San Francisco

Most folks are familiar with the acronym DWI, driving while intoxicated, but not DWB, driving while black.

Take Aaron Campbell, an African-American police officer from Miami. Campbell was off-duty when he was stopped in Orlando in January 1997. The state says that Campbell failed to signal a lane change. The officer who stopped Campbell was white.

Campbell screamed and swore at the officer. He was subsequently arrested and charged with five counts of battery and resisting arrest. At trial, Campbell said that the initial stop was illegal since he said he had put on his signal when changing lanes. He said he was guilty only of the unwritten crime of DWB.

Earlier this month, a jury found him not guilty of four counts and guilty of a misdemeanor count of resisting arrest.

DWB is a common charge.

A recent Orlando Sentinel survey reveals that African-Americans constitute 16 percent of the drivers on Florida's turnpike but account for more than 50 percent of the traffic stops. A Maryland study of I-95 between Baltimore and Delaware shows that 73 percent of traffic stops were of African-Americans, though that group comprised only 14 percent of the drivers.

Surveys also show that lighter-skinned blacks don't get stopped as often. Nightline recently devoted a two-part series to the issues of crime and being black in America. A major issue discussed was that of DWB. Former prosecutor Christopher Darden, now at Southwestern School of Law, stated that he has been stopped at least once a year since getting his driver's license in 1972 _ not for committing any traffic violation but apparently for driving through a predominantly white neighborhood, or in a fancy car. It's not limited to driving. Another crime is SWB, shopping while black: Those of us of a darker hue get closer scrutiny while shopping.

We are suspects solely because of skin color. Let's have a real dialogue about that.

_ Akilah Monifa

freelance writer and adjunct professor of law New College of California, San Francisco